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Is Your Gratitude Practice Building Your Resiliency?
And through my gratitude I now know my worth. What Do You Do When Things Get Hard? Do you try to numb the pain? Do you distract yourself? Do you ignore it? Do you practice gratitude? Do you fall back into some old negative patterns? Do you exercise? Do you feel sorry for yourself? Do…
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The Difference Between Hope and Faith
Yes, I know that I am right where I need to be today. {inhale, exhale} Her Words Reminded Me That It Was True for Me I have been grieving and in this difficult time I have been telling myself, “Everything is going to be OK.” and “It will all work out.” Those are nice and…
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Seeing Gifts Everywhere
So many people shared this video with me I just had to share it with you. Appreciating The Little Gifts What a great video this is to remind us of the gifts we have that surround us every single day. I love his enthusiasm. He has that infectious child-like wonder. My gratitude is more…
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Today More Than Ever I Need to Be Kind to Myself
Letting Myself Off the Hook Today’s email looks a little different. Because I needed some ease and gentleness and kindness and love. Because I’m telling myself that things can be easier and I’m believing it. Because I am grateful for the relief of letting myself off the hook. I had a hard day and…
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Prayers on a Shitty Day
Do you only pray at the end of a bad day? One day I was doing a workshop on gratitude and sharing my tips for finding gratitude on shitty days. I cover this topic often because many people find this the most challenging. It is much more natural for them to find gratitude when things…
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Problem Solving Without Focusing on the Problem
Imagine if you walked through life shining light on things you wanted to see more of. Shining a Light – What Will You Find? We notice problems at every turn. That is not a problem. Noticing is good. Discernment is a skill. But after we have acknowledged a problem we can switch out…
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With or Without Comparison
Are you choosing to compare away your joy? I saw the Theodore Roosevelt quote below and it really resonated with me. I can definitely get caught in the trap of comparing myself to others. I see the new car of my neighbor and although I like my car I find myself wishing I had a…
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The Art of Being Soft
The bees buzzed around me with all their potential to sting. What will I do? Choosing Softness It can be so easy to convince ourselves that we have to be hard and tough. Even here in our gratitude collective a few weeks ago I was talking about fighting. In times when there is…
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Summer Rain Cleanse
The thunder is the loudest, the lightning is the brightest, the rain is the softest. When Life is Stormy Summer rains are showering our desert in blessings. Let the rain cleanse away your worries and your fears. Let the unknowns of life be as accepted as the thunder. Let your gratitude flow like soft…
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How Do You Fight?
My grandparents fought through prayer and hard work and asking for help. Can Gratitude Be a Form of Fighting? In this time of so many people taking sides and fighting it can feel like even peace and war is in its own conflict. But not all fighting is bad. Sometimes we are fighting to be…
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Freedom to Choose
With a broken elbow she was apologizing for not being more positive. Is there ever a good enough reason to complain? I Hereby Grant You Permission to Complain Complaining is a choice. So is gratitude. I practice gratitude every single evening but I also complain. A lot. I am not all gratitude because…
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A Night Off
What I need right now is to close this computer, drink some water, take care of my aching body, and drift off to sleep. And you know what? I am going to give myself that gift. What do you need right now? Please, for you, for those who love you, for all of us,…
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I’m Just So Tired
Well Not Just Tired Here goes the list of complaints: I am tired, very tired. My gums are throbbing with my bad tooth screaming to get out. I am stressed with a lingering obligation anchoring my every thought. I am hungry and I don’t even want to be writing right now. One thing I…
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Fear
In the Bathroom, On a Ballot, In My Head, Everywhere Earlier I saw yet another story about fear of transgender people in bathrooms and it got me thinking about fear. This fear is so illogical and not based in reality at all. But is fear ever about reality? Fear as a way to control and…
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Giving Yourself Permission – Try it this week!
Mind Over Thoughts A miraculous thing happened this weekend. A simple thing that really did feel like a blessing, a gift, magic. And it was all in my head. I have been more stressed than ever dealing with a terrible financial crisis, one that puts many people at risk. I have had trouble sleeping almost…
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The Lure in 5, 4, 3, 2 …
It Grabs Hold of You So seductively it draws you in. It knows that you can’t take your mind off of it. It’s the smart thing to do. It’s the right thing to do. And soon it’s all you think about. It is the future. Even in gratitude tomorrow grabs hold. That…
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Hello. Thank You. You Are Beautiful.
A Way of Being For a while now I have been intrigued by this concept of Ways of Being. It is the idea of having a consciousness that is aligned with an intention but not being caught up in the actions or strategies that might get you there. For instance you could be of…
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The Fantasy of Everything Settling Down
It’s an Inside Job I find myself saying that I will get to this and that when things calm down. But it never does. There’s always something new that shows up to challenge me. Lately the challenge has been emotional as you know from reading last week’s issue. What I have been struggling with…
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The Most Beautiful Nudge
Finding Gratitude for Inertia I love the concept of a nudge. The idea is simple: Inertia is real. If we accept and embrace that then we can use it to our advantage. An effective nudge makes the “best” choice the easiest choice. A classic health example: If you often overeat, buy smaller plates. Another…
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Fact-Based Gratitude
Gratitude Need Not Blind You from Reality Fact: This morning as I used the bathroom I stepped in something wet. Fact: It was dog pee. Fact: I was not fucking happy about this. Fact: I was grateful for having a washing machine to be able to take care of the problem. Gratitude is…